Keeps for knitting needles or other rod-like articles



Feb. 6, 1962 B. G. DUFFIN ETAL 3,019,500

KEEPS FOR KNITTING NEEDLES OR OTHER ROD-LIKE ARTICLES Filed Nov. 24, 1958 m-ro/eA/Ey 3,019,500 Kllllld FOR KNITTENG NEEDLES OR OTHER RGB LEKE ARTIQLES Bernard George Dsthn, Headless Cross, Redditch, and Norman Thomas Sanders, Mappleborough Green, Studley, England, assignors to Needle Industries Limited, Warwick, England, a British company Nov. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 775,845 tllaims priority, application Great Britain Dec. 3, 1957 2 (Ilaims. (Cl. Z P-81) This invention relates to rod-like articles which are required to be kept in pairs or sets. The invention is applicable primarily to knitting needles which as is well known are normally kept in pairs for sale or use.

Devices herein referred to as keeps have hitherto been provided for temporarily securing together knitting needles in pairs but these known keeps do not possess the combination of characteristics which are necessary or desirable for the reasons more fully pointed out herein.

Firstly, it is necessary that a keep utilised for knitting needles should provide sutficient resistance to displacement of individual needles from the keep to ensure that the needles of a pair or set are securely retained in assembled relation with each other.

Secondly, the keep should be capable of being manufactured at a cost which is small in relation to that of the knitting needles. Thirdly, the keep should preferably be such that after removal of the knitting needles therefrom they can be re-assembled in the keep after use whereby the purchaser is enabled to keep them in pairs or sets throughout the life of the knitting needles. Fourthly, a keep of common design and dimensions should desirably be capable of being used in conjunction with pairs or sets of knitting needles selected from a range of two or three consecutive sizes at least, thereby avoiding the necessity for providing differently dimensioned keeps for different size of knitting needles. The term size refers to the diameter of the shank of the knitting needle concerned.

Fifthly, assembly and disassembly of the knitting needles from the keep should not be attended by any damage to the suriace ofthe knitting needles because any scratching or roughening of such urface is detrimental to the performance of knitting operations.

The object of the present invention is to provide a keep which more nearly meets these characteristics than those hitherto provided.

According to the invention a keep for knitting needles or other rod-like articles of the kind specified comprises a body formed of an elastically deformable plastic material and including a plurality of channel forming portions of substantially greater length than depth each having opposed side walls and a mouth, a core portion common to each of said channel forming portions and integrally connected with said side walls thereof to form a bottom wall to each channel, said side walls being thinner than said core portion in the region in which they are connected thereto and each increasing in thickness towards its mouth to an extent which increases continuously from opposite ends of said side walls to the central region of its length.

By forming the keep with channels for the reception of the knitting needles or rod-like articles and by the use of elastically deformable material for the side walls of the channels, the magnitude of the force which has to be executed to insert the knitting needle into the keep or rates Patent ice remove it from the keep can be made more nearly constant over a range of sizes of knitting needles or articles used with a keep of common dimensions than would be the cases were the needles or articles to be inserted through bores. It is important that the forces exerted during insertion and removal of a knitting needle shall not be too great otherwise they may be bent or broken and the use of channels with walls formed of elastically eformable material and which increases in thickness in a direction towards the mouth of the channel permits a keep to be made which will exercise the proper degree of restraint upon removal of a knitting needle or article, notwithstanding variations in cross sectional dimensions of the knitting needles over a range of sizes.

The side walls of each channel-forming portion when so formed as to provide for a reduction in resistance to insertion of a knitting needle or rod-like article at or near one or both ends of the channel as compared with that offered by the side walls in the central region of the length of the channel.

Thus, the mouth of the channel afforded by each channel-forming portion is wider at one or both ends than it is at a position centrally of the length of the channel.

One or both of the opposed side walls of each channelforming portion may incorporate at the mouth of the channel a laterally inwardly projecting lip or rib. Each lip or rib may be of generally triangular shape in cross section, its base being integrally connected with the remaining portion of the associated side wall and its apices situated within the channel, the inner and outer side faces of the lip or rib making acute included angles with the base of the rib. Preferably each lip or rib is of reducing cross sectional area from its central region towards one or both ends.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation of a pair of knitting needles retained in assembled relation with each other by means of one form of keep in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a view in end elevation on an enlarged scale showing the keep.

FIGURE 3 is a view of the keep in side elevation and in cross section on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a view or" the keep in end elevation and in cross section on the line 4-4- of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a top plan view of the keep, and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective View of the keep.

The keep illustrated in the drawings is intended for use as illustrated in FIGURE 1 for retaining a pair of knitting needles 10 in assembled relation.

The keep may be made in one piece from a nonscratching resiliently deformable material, preferably a plastics material such as polythene or polyvinyl chloride.

The keep comprises a body 11 which includes two channel-forming portions 12 each having side walls 13 and bottom walls constituted by the upper and lower halves of a common connecting or core portion 15.

The side walls 13 in combination with the bottom walls define channels 16 which are open at both ends and which have a depth somewhat exceeding the diameter of the largest diameter knitting needle required to be used in the keep.

The inner part of each channel may be of rectangular shape in cross section as seen in FlGURES 2 and 4.

Each channel 16 is of reduced width in the region of its mouth 17 so as to be of undercut shape in cross section as a whole, this being achieved partly by virtue of the fact that the side walls 13 curve inwardly towards each other adjacent to the mouths 17 of the channels and partly by incorporation as part of the side walls 13 of ribs 18.

The ribs 18 are of triangular shape in cross section the bases of these ribs being integrally united with the remaining portions of their associated side walls and their inner and outer side faces making acute angles with the bases of the ribs (approximately 60).

Thus, the outer faces 2d of the ribs are divergent from each other in a direction outwardly from the bottom Wall of each channel formed by the core portion 15 and the faces 19 are convergent in this direction so that they are engaged with the circumferential face of a knitting pin when disposed in the channel and tend to exert pressure urging the knitting needle against the bottom wall.

Each of the ribs 18 is of greatest cross sectional area in the central region of its length and is reduced in cross sectional area (while remaining of the same or approximately the same cross sectional shape) towards its ends so that, as seen particularly in FIGURE 5, the ridges or apices are disposed within the channels and are convexly bowed, and the gap or space between adjacent apices of the ribs 18 has a minimum value at 21 in the center of the length of the mouth of each channel and a maximum value at 22 at each end of the mouth. At the position indicated at 22 the cross sectional area of each rib 18 may reduce to Zero or a very small value so that at these positions the channels 16 are of substantially rectangular form except for a slight incurving of the side Walls 13.

This permits the shank of a needle 16 to be easily introduced laterally through the mouth of the channel into the channel without undue resistance, the axis or centreline of the shank of the knitting needle being initially inclined to the bottom wall of the channel, so that firstly it is pressed into the channel locally at one end thereof and is then brought into parallel relation with the channel so that the side walls are moved apart progressively along the channel from the end at which the needle is first inserted towards the opposite end.

In this way the force required to insert the needle is maintained at a satisfactorily low value which will not bend or otherwise damage the needle, while after insertion the inward pressure exerted by the side walls 13 is sufiicient to retain the needle securely against unintentional lateral withdrawal or endwise withdrawal.

In general the operation of inserting the needle into the channel will be performed laterally through the mouth of the channel since this is somewhat easier and calls for less skill on the part of the user than inserting it endwise into the channel, but intentional withdrawal of the needle can easily be performed by endwise sliding movement of the needle.

Preferably as illustrated the rib occupies approximately half the depth of the channel in the center of the length thereof.

Preferably also the length of each channel is substantially greater than its depth. In the illustrated embodiment the ratio of length to depth is of the order of 8:1, but this may be reduced or increased as necessary or desirable for particular applications. It is believed, however, that when utilizing the resiliently deformable plastics materials referred to it is desirable that the length should be at least four times greater than the depth in order to provide the requisite security or retention of the needles or other rod-like articles in the channels.

A keep for knitting needles as described and illustrated is normally suitable for use with three consecutive sizes l of the knitting needles. For a keep designed for use with three sizes (diameters) of knitting needle ranging from 9 to 11 S.W.G. (0.144- to 0.116 inch) the side walls 13 of each channel-forming portion when made of the resiliently deformable plastics materials mentioned may have an average thickness of about 1 mm. excluding the ribs 18, and the core or connecting portion 15 may have an overall thickness of about 2 mm.

Various modifications may be made in the construction specifically described and illustrated to render the keep suitable for other applications. Each keep may incorporate with more than two channel-forming portions.

In this case the channel-forming portions may be integrally connected with each other through the intermediary of their bottom walls which collectively form a core portion from which the channel-forming portions then radiate, the mouths of the channels being presente radially outwardly. This construction would be suitable for use where it is desired to retain in assembled relation sets of articles each set containing more than two articles.

In all these constructions the side walls of each channelforming portion are preferably individual to that portion so that their lateral displacement produced by the insertion of an article into the channel thus formed is not dependent upon the presence or absence of an article in an adjoining channel such as would be the case were a given side wall to be common to two adjacent channels, although this arrangement may be adopted in some constructions such as those incorporating more than two channel-forming portions.

What we claim then is:

1. A keep for a set of rod-like articles comprising a body formed of an elastically deformable plastic material and including a plurality of channel forming portions of substantially greater length than depth each having opposed side Walls and a mouth, a core portion common to each of said channel forming portions and integrally connected with said side walls thereof to form a bottom wall to each channel, and each pair of opposed side walls incorporating at the mouth of the channel defined thereby respective integral ribs of generally triangular shape in cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the length of the channel the bases of said ribs being integrally united with the remaining portions of their respectively associated side walls, said ribs having inner and outer side faces which mutually convergent and divergent in a direction from the central region of the channel to the ends of the channel, the inner and outer side faces of each said rib meeting at a ridge which is situated in the channel and is convexly bowed lengthwise or" the channel, the ridges of each pair of associated ribs having their minimum separation in the central region of the length of the channel.

2. A keep for a set of rod-like articles comprising a body formed or" elastically deformable plastic material and including a plurality of channel forming portions of substantially greater length than depth each having op-- posed side walls and a mouth, a core portion common to each of said channel forming portions and integrally connected with said side walls thereof to form a bottom wall to each channel, and each pair of opposed side walls incorporating at the mouth of the channel defined thereby respective integral ribs of generally triangular shape in cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the length of the channel, the bases of said ribs being integrally united with the remaining portions of their respectively associated side walls, said ribs having inner and outer side faces which are each divergent in a direction from the central region of the channel to the ends of the channel, the inner and outer side faces of each said rib meeting at a ridge which is situated in the channel and is convexly bowed lengthwise of the channel in a direction towards the core portion, the ridges of each pair of associated ribs having their minimum separation in the central region of the length of the channel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Emerson June 11, 1872 Knapp Sept. 3, 1918 Rhodes June 29, 1920 Xenis Mar. 1, 1938 10 Lofgren Aug. 4, 1942 Slaughter Nov. 6, 1945 Wernette Aug. 22, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain of 1901 Great Britain of 1914 Great Britain June 12, 1924 Great Britain June 23, 1949 Great Britain Aug. 19, 1949 Great Britain Mar. 4, 1953 Great Britain Feb. 3, 1954 

